


Soraya (Bat Monster)

by TheTravelerWrites



Series: Monster Lovers: Shelter Forest [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Bat Monster, Dysphoria, Exophilia, F/F, Human/Bat, Human/Bat Monster, Human/Giant Bat, Human/Monster Romance, Intersex, Intersex Reader, Other, Reader Insert, Reader-Insert, Terato, Teratophilia, gender fluid, human/monster, monster girlfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 04:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTravelerWrites/pseuds/TheTravelerWrites
Summary: An intersex woman falls ill and looks for a source of her disease, only to be rescued and taken to a farm run by many strange creatures.





	Soraya (Bat Monster)

An illness had decimated the population of your village. Your sister had died yesterday, and your mother three days before. You were hoping you’d be one of the few that managed to be immune, but just today you’d begun to experience the tell-tale symptoms and you knew you were next.

Folks in town said it was a punishment. Many years ago, before you were born, a witch had been run out of the town for consorting with demons, and this, as the elders said, was their terrible retribution being visited upon you all for transgressing against them. The crumbling, burned-out ruins of the cabin the witch once resided in still stood at the very edge of town, covered in aged moss and vines. The townsfolk were too scared to touch it, even to remove it.

It didn’t make much sense to you, though. Why would they wreak havoc nearly thirty years later? It wasn’t even the anniversary; they’d been expelled in early spring, and it was nearly midwinter now. It was far more likely that this was just some sort of fever that the wind had carried in to the village, but the town was superstitious, so reasoning with them wouldn’t do much good.

You knew this all too well. Your own birth had caused an uproar. You had no control over how you were born, but it didn’t stop the people of the town from seeing you as an abomination. Your own father had left because of it. You had been ashamed of yourself from the moment you were old enough to understand that you were different.

Your mother and sister were always supportive, but even they were unsure how to treat you. When you were young, they dressed you as a boy, but as you hit puberty and your breasts began to develop, they abruptly switched to dressing you as a girl. The sudden change was strange to you, and you didn’t understand why you couldn’t dress however you wanted. Your mother told you, as kindly as she could in hushed tones, that that simply wasn’t done. A person was either a boy or a girl, not both.

But, you tried to argue, that’s exactly what you were.

As you grew up, you had to admit, you did feel more like a girl most of the time, but other times you weren’t so sure. It varied from day to day.

It didn’t matter now, you guessed. You were dying anyway. Perhaps, you thought, perhaps if you could go find this witch and her demon and convince them to stop this terrible disease from killing your village, the townsfolk could forgive your odious form. Perhaps they would accept you. Perhaps the men and women of the town would stop looking at you like you were something made of manure and pond scum. Perhaps you could be a real person in their eyes.

The day after you had laid your family to rest, you set out alone into the woods with nothing but the clothes on your back. If you failed, you’d die anyway. No sense in weighing yourself down with worldly things.

Two days of wandering, and the illness was taking hold. You could barely breathe for the coughing fits. Fever burned your body despite feeling like you were freezing to death. The world spun around your head with every step you took. You stumbled and slipped every other minute, scrapping your legs and hands on the rocks hidden in the frozen grass of the forest.

Finally, you could go no further and collapsed to the forest floor. As you fell and your eyes rolled back into your head, you saw a figure on wings above, descending toward you, surely the specter of death come to take your soul. Well, it could have it. You were tired. So very tired.

The next sensation you felt was one of flying. Perhaps you really had died. If so, death wasn’t so bad. Flying felt better than fever.

Soon, though, you heard whispering voices.

“I found her near the old clay mines, near Tota’s cave.”

“She’s lucky he didn’t find her first,” A cavernously deep, masculine voice said. “He still has a powerful hatred for humans.”

“She’s burning up,” A woman said. “Keep Yala downstairs, I think whatever this girl has is catching.”

“What about you, Mama?”

“I’ll be careful, Soraya, don’t you worry. Yala’s condition is more delicate than mine right now. We don’t want to risk anything. Tell Birch to bring up some water from the river and have Lymera put a pot to boil. We need to get her cleaned up.”

“Yes, Mama.”

You drifted off again. You felt a cup pressed to your lips and you tried to drink, though your throat felt like it was on fire. It was some sort of tea, you thought, but you could barely taste it. You felt someone sponging your forehead and neck.

The next time you opened your eyes, you saw nothing. It was pitch black and you could feel that you were laying in a bed. You were still sore and sick, but you were lucid.

“Hello?” You called, your voice a barely audible rasp.

You heard movement to your left, but didn’t see anything.

“You’re awake,” said a voice. It was the voice of the person who found you. It was feminine while also being rather deep and gruff. “You’ve been unconscious for four days.”

“I have?” You croaked. “I thought I was dead.”

“Very close to it,” They said. You could hear them moving closer but you still couldn’t see them. “I can’t believe you were wandering the woods in the middle of winter in your condition.”

“I have to find the witch,” You said.

“Witch?” They replied in confusion. “What witch?”

“The one who’s inflicted the town with the illness I have. It killed all the old people and the children. There used to be hundreds of people in my village, but now there are barely four or five dozen. I have to convince the witch to lift the curse.”

They were silent, and you could feel their confusion. “But… you have the flu.”

Your heart dropped in your chest. “…the flu? Are you certain?”

“My mother has been treating you. She’s a real jack-of-all-trades type. She’s seen the flu in plenty of humans who have come by here over the years.”

Of course. _Of course_ it was the flu. You’d let the loss of your family and the superstition of your townsfolk cloud your judgement. This was no magical ailment. This was a normal illness made worse by fanatical hatred and a lack of medical knowledge by anyone in your village. Of course. What an idiot you were.

“Humans?” You echoed, your brain suddenly catching up to what the person had said. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re human, and Mama’s human, and Yala’s human. The rest of us, ehh, not so much.”

“What are you?” You asked, suddenly nervous.

“I don’t know for sure,” She said. “Mama and Papa adopted me when I was a baby. I mean, I know what I look like, but I don’t know what our kind are called.”

You reached out, your hand hitting something that felt like leather, and you heard a surprised chirrup and the sound of them shifting away from you slightly.

“Are… are you… a demon?”

“Well, that’s rude,” they said, but they were laughing. “I’m a bat… person.”

You reached out again, slowly, and your fingers came into contact with something like a muzzle with soft fur. A tongue flicked out and licked your hand, and you snatched it back, gasping. They giggled.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help teasing you,” You heard them say as they retreated back to their corner of the room. “It’s the middle of the night, and you still need to rest. Go back to sleep. I can bother you more later.”

“All right,” You said meekly, and lay back in the bed. Your mind was reeling. Maybe this was just a fever dream. Maybe this was some weird afterlife purgatory. Before you could dwell on it too hard, you faded out again.

When your eyes opened, clear sunlight was shining through the window and you were alone in a large room. There was a mass of pillows and blankets on the floor in the corner, where the voice had come from. It looked like a cozy nest for a rather large creature. There was a shelf nearby with little trinkets and a book or two, and you came to the conclusion that you must be in the one named Soraya’s room.

You looked down and saw the cuts on your arms bandaged and felt similar wrappings on your legs. You then realized with horror that you were not wearing the clothes you had left town in, but a clean, heavy winter shift. Someone had redressed you, and they must have seen.

Before you could start panicking, the door opened and an older woman came in, a few grey strands present in her brown bun. She was wearing a buttoned-up shirt and trousers. You couldn’t help but stare at her. Your mother always said a woman should never wear trousers, but you couldn’t deny that this woman cut a handsome figure.

“Ah, good. Soraya said you’d woken up,” She said in a pleased tone. You recognized her voice as one you heard giving orders to the others. She held a bowl of porridge in her hand. “My name is Ryel. I’m glad to see you doing better. How are you feeling?”

“Uh… still sore but not so sick,” You replied.

“Good,” She said, placing the bowl in your hands. “You should try to eat.”

You set the bowl in your lap, but didn’t take up the spoon. “Did… did you redress me?”

“Yes,” She said as she felt your forehead. “The clothing you came here with was filthy. It’s being washed by one of my children now.”

“So… you saw…” You faltered and cast your eyes down.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” She assured you, and you looked up at her in surprise. “If you’re worried we’ll kick you out, don’t be. It’d be rather hypocritical of me to send away someone for being a little bit different.” She gave you a sly smile.

“You’re her, aren’t you?” You asked in curiosity. She tilted her head at you questioningly. “The woman who left the village thirty years ago? The one they called a witch and who conspired with demons?”

She snorted. “Demons and witches, honestly. Isn’t this world difficult enough to traverse without inventing villains where there are none?”

“You’re not a witch, then?” You asked.

“No, I’m not a witch,” She said, sitting on the edge of the bed and motioning for you to eat, which you did obediently. You were rather hungry. “I doubt I have a magical bone in my body. The only real magic here is my husband and children. They are truly a blessing.”

“ _You’re_ Soraya’s mother?” You gasped.

“She did say she was adopted, didn’t she?” Ryel laughed.

“She said that there were only two humans here, besides me, and I’m guessing Yala isn’t your husband. That means your husband is…”

“Not human?” She said, grinning. “Correct. He’s a bat-person, like Soraya, only we’re fairly sure they’re a different breed. Soraya is smaller and redder. Declan has a flatter face and his wings are attached at the hips, not the ankles, like Soraya’s are. Either way, they’re both special.” She smiled fondly.

She reminded you of your own mother, and your chest tightened. “So… you really didn’t afflict the town with a magical disease? People are dying for nothing?”

Ryel’s smile faded. “Not for nothing. They’re dying because upholding superstitions is far more important to your town’s elders than people’s lives. It always has been. It’s why they hated me and I left in the first place.”

“What did you do to make them hate you so much?”

“I did nothing more than live my life in a way that they didn’t approve of,” She sniffed. “Because I refused offers of marriage from men twice my age, because I lived alone and took care of myself, because I would rather keep my dignity and say no than bow my head obediently and be a toy for the first man who claimed me as his property. That’s all I did. And it was enough to make them hate me.”

“I… know what that’s like,” you murmured.

“I’m sure you do, and I’m sorry,” Ryel said. You could tell she meant it. “Rest assured, you’ll not have that problem here. You’re welcome to stay until you’re fully recovered, and then we can figure out some arrangements for you. Unless you’d like to go back to your town.”

You shook your head fervently. “I have nothing to go back to. They see me as some sort of offense to nature. Now that my family has gone, there’s no reason to return.”

Ryel nodded sadly. “You remind me of myself, in a way.”

You looked up at her, worried. “Did you… tell them…”

Ryel shook her head. “Your secrets are yours to keep or to share, not mine. But I promise you, no one here is going to be all that concerned about it. We’re all cast offs, for one reason or another. It’s why we found each other. Even the strange need company.”

She chuckled a little as she stood up and encouraged you to keep eating. “Rest, dear. I’ll send Soraya up later to check on you.” Then she left, snapping the door shut behind her.

After you’d eaten your breakfast, you went to the window, since you knew nothing of your current whereabouts. You appeared to be on a largish farm of some kind, deep inside the forest. You were on the upper floor of a house that was situated between a large barn and a huge expanse of land, laid out in neat rows which were mostly empty this late in the winter, though you did see some onion and spinach plants growing just fine.

The ground was covered in a fine dusting of snow under your window. There, you saw a young woman wearing a heavy cloak standing with a tan cervitaur, who had a blanket on his back and a short jacket on his torso to stave off the chill. His was a hair shorter than the woman, but his antlers lent him a rather commanding presence. He seemed to be fussing at her, and it was only when she turned that you saw why.

Between the folds of her cloak, her round belly poked through and you realized she was heavily pregnant. The cervitaur was clearly attempting to convinve the woman to go inside and rest. The woman sighed indulgently and kissed the cervitaur’s cheek. He smiled at her lopsidedly and took her hand, leading her into the barn.

You sighed wistfully as you watched them disappear within. You’d always known you’d likely be alone all your life and had accepted it, but it didn’t stop you from being lonely, especially now that your family was gone. There was no point in pining for something that was out of your reach, but sometimes, it couldn’t be helped.

Then, you saw them. The bats.

They came out of the barn as the human woman and the cervitaur went in. The one you assumed was Declan was _huge_. Massive. He must have been eleven feet tall, though he had a hunched posture, but it didn’t diminish his size one bit. His fur was brown with black down his back and under his neck. He had a short muzzle, long ears, and a sweetly inquisitive demeanor, his head tilting as he spoke to his… daughter?

The other one, Soraya, was about three feet shorter, but still very tall. Her fur was a rusty red and her face resembled a fox. She stood straighter than her adoptive father, which put them level with each other. Neither of them had on a stitch of clothing, but Soraya wore a necklace of smooth, multicolored stones around her neck.

Soraya said something, and they both suddenly looked up at your window, seeing you standing there. You jumped backward, alarmed, and retreated to the bed.

A few minutes later, Soraya came in with a cup of tea held steadily in the digits of her foot, using her arms to propel her forward.

“This is good for the throat,” she said. “Chamomile and clover, and honey of course, though that’s a little hard to get at this time of year.” She set the cup down on the table next to the bed. You realized you were staring and looked away.

“Sorry if we spooked you,” She said, pointing her long, winged finger at the window. “My Papa and I are… not normal. It can take some time for people to get used to us.”

“I’m sorry,” You replied. “I’ve just never seen anything like you before.”

“I know,” She said good-naturedly. “Not many people have. Apparently my kind are pretty rare, in this region, at least. Me and Papa are the only ones like us that we know of. Two of a kind.”

“Does that bother you?” You asked her.

She’s quiet a moment, but eventually responds, “No.”

You knew the tone of that _No_. You’d used it dozens of times when your mother or sister had asked if you were unhappy. They knew you were, but they still asked because they loved you.

“A bat is better than a demon, anyhow, and I was fully expecting to run into one of those. I prefer you,” You said, trying to cheer her up.

She smiled, weirdly adorable on her long snout. “Thanks.”

You opened your mouth to say something else, but was overtaken by a coughing fit.

“Easy, there,” She said, picking up the cup and tilting it to your lips. It was amazing how deft the articulated digits on her lower paws were. You took a few sips as she held your head with a leathery wing. She was awfully warm. You reached out absentmindedly and took hold of her arm, steadying yourself as you caught your breath. Her fur was so soft, you just wanted to bury your face in it. This close, you could smell her clean, earthy scent.

Maybe it was the sickness, but you wanted her to stay as close as possible. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt so comfortable, not even with your own family.

Too soon, she lay you back in the bed and stepped back.

“I’ll let you rest,” She said, walking toward one of the large windows, which opened wide to the outside, and stepped out. You watched as she spread her wide wings and flapped, jumping from the small platform just outside the window and flew away. You marveled at how freely she moved, despite her size.

Sleep took you again, and when you awoke, she was back in the room, sitting in her nest and looking out the window. She sighed unhappily.

“What’s wrong?”

She jumped and squeaked, looking around at you. “Oh, you’re up again. Did I wake you?”

“No,” You said, getting out of bed and crossing the room to sit beside her on the floor. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” She said, shaking her head, peering out of the window again. You followed her gaze and saw the cervitaur and the young woman again, cuddled up to each other and kissing softly, standing in the yard as if they were waiting for something.

“Are you pining after one of them?” You asked.

She started, grimacing. “What? No, ew. The woman is Yala, my sister, and the cervitaur is her husband, Reed. They’ve been in love with each other for ages, but they were too shy to tell each other until about a year ago.” She laughed softly. “It was actually fun to watch them flounder around each other. They were so awkward and oblivious. But then they got married and Yala got pregnant and…”

“And?”

Soraya sighed again. “I’m happy for them. They deserve to be happy, but I can’t help thinking… I’ll never have that myself. What they have with each other, I mean. That’s… not for me.”

“Why?”

“It’s different for Reed. It’s different for the ones of us who look kind of human. They aren’t as rare or odd as me, or Cetzu or the gnoll twins or Asahi.”

“Who?” You asked. The only people you’d seen were the human women, the cervitaur, and the bats.

“You haven’t met them yet. They’ve been off on a hunting trip for the last few weeks, but they’re due back today. That’s what we’re waiting for. There are others here, too, who look sort of human. A couple of centaurs, a faun, and an adlet. They’ve been holed up in the barn because of the cold, but they’ll be out later to help clean the meat from the hunts and haul up fallen trees for winter.”

“Why is it different for the human-looking ones?” You asked.

“Because when people come to stay here, they see parts of themselves in them, so they’re not as put off. But when they see me, or my papa, or Cetzu, they see animals.” Her eyes were distant and she curled her wings around herself. “I’m afraid of humans,” She admitted. “Not my mama or my sister, but other humans. A human killed my birth parents and older brother for their skins. It’s why I don’t leave the forest, why I hide when we have human company. They don’t see us as people. We’re freaks.”

“Trust me, that goes for humans, too,” You said without thinking.

“What do you mean?” She asked, turning to look at you.

You dropped your eyes. “I just mean, humans aren’t all that great to other humans, either. If you’re even a little different, that’s enough to make them hate you. They can make you feel like you’re the only person like you in the world, like you’re alone even with your own family.”

“You sound like Mama,” Soraya said, looking at you with a soft expression. “I asked her and Papa a long time ago how they met and how they found me. It’s a sad tale. But we all found each other when we needed the other the most. That’s what family means to me.” She shuffled a little closer to you. “Mama said your family died from sickness. Did that happen recently?”

A lump formed in your throat. Your illness had dulled the sting of their passing, but now that you were feeling better, the loss was flooding your body. Your face crumpled and you covered it with your hands, sobbing.

“Sorry,” She said, pulling you into a hug. “Sorry.”

You cried into her fur for a long time, gulping from sorrow and pain and grief. You cried because you wanted a better life. You cried because you didn’t want to be alone. You cried because you wanted to be yourself, whoever that was. You didn’t want to have to hide and didn’t want people to think you were a freak or a offense to nature. You couldn’t help how you were born or change who you were. And why should you have to?

You hiccuped to a stop, but didn’t attempt to move away from Soraya, and she didn’t seem to want to let you go. She was _so warm_.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” She said, her nose against your ear.

“You didn’t,” You said, snuggled into her chest. “It’s just been building up for a while. It was going to come out eventually anyway.”

You suddenly realized she’d pulled you into her nest and you were sitting between her legs, and felt a little self-conscious. You pulled away but didn’t stand.

“Oh,” Soraya said suddenly, looking up. “They’re back.”

You looked out and saw a large lizardman, a fox boy, and two hyenas coming out of the forest, dragging huge bags behind them. A horde of creatures came from the barn to assist them; the larger bat, two centaurs, a female faun, and another creature that resembled a centaur, but with the lower body of a large black dog.

“I’ve never seen someone like him before,” You said, pointing at the dog person.

“That’s Toklo, he’s an adlet. They’re pretty rare down here, too, though I’ve heard there’s lots of them up north.” She used her long thumb to point out family members, naming them as she went. “The centaurs are Birch and Yew, the faun is Lymera, the reptile man is Cetzu, the kitsune is Asahi, and the gnoll boys are Kurra and Feera. Kurra’s the one with the clip in his ear.”

“There all so different,” You said in a wondering tone.

“But Mama and Papa love us all the same,” Soraya said. “They’ll probably be taking in strays until the day they die.”

“Do you…” You gulped. “Do you think they’d let me stay?”

Soraya looked at you. “You don’t want to go back to your village.”

“No,” You said blackly. “They treat me like a monster. The only thing that made it bearable was my mother and sister, and they’re gone now.”

“Why would they treat you like a monster?” Soraya asked in confusion. “There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with you, besides the flu. You’re even kind of cute, for a human.”

You flushed. “I… was born different,” You said, swallowing your heart back down. “I’m not a girl, but I’m not a boy, either. I’m both, or neither, I don’t know.”

“You’ve lost me,” Soraya said.

“I was born with… both parts. Male and female. I’m both, and neither. But… I feel like a girl most of the time.”

“ _Ohhh,_ ” Soraya said in a hushed whisper.

You braced yourself.

“So you’re like Toklo.”

You blinked at her in surprise. “What?”

“Yeah, Toklo’s like that, too, only he feels more like a boy.”

You looked down at the teenage adlet, stunned. “He’s… like me?”

“Mm-hmm,” Soraya said, nodding. “When we found him, Papa and I thought it was so strange, but Mama said it happens all the time. There were three such people in the town where she lived when she was little, but she doesn’t know what happened to them since then.”

“I… I’m not the only one?” You gasped in astonishment.

“Nope. There are lots of folks like you,” Soraya said, smiling and squeezing your shoulders. “Mama says the odds are one in a thousand.”

“But… that’s so…” Your brow furrowed.

“So what?”

“Common,” You breathed. “How… how could I never have heard of another like me before now?”

“Probably because folks are scared, just like you are,” Soraya said. “The look on your face when you told me was like you were about to admit you killed my best friend. You looked absolutely terrified.”

“I was,” You admitted. “It doesn’t… bother you?”

“Why should it?” She said, laughing.

You stared at her in disbelief as she continued to smile at you. She really didn’t think you were… strange? You got up on your knees and pressed your body against hers, pulling her into a tight hug. She seemed surprised, but wrapped you up in her wings. The warmth returned, and you settled into it.

“You know,” you whispered into the fur of her neck. “I’ve always thought I’d be alone all my life, too. Do… you want to be alone together?”

She drew back abruptly, shock written plainly on her face, and she gaped at you. “Really? You don’t think I’m… well… an animal?”

“How could I?” You told her, taking her long face in your hands and pressing your lips against it over and over. “You’re more a person to me than anyone I’ve ever known. I’ve never been as warm as I am with you. I want to stay in this nest with you forever.”

Her long tongue came out to lick your neck and face and shoulder, covering you in her own kisses, and you giggled.

“Grab the pillows and blankets off the bed,” Soraya said. “We need to make this nest big enough for two.”

You obeyed, and that night you slept in the shelter of your arms. The next morning, Ryel found the two of you curled up together, and while you were embarrassed, she simply smiled, declared you well enough to be up and about, and took you downstairs to meet your new family.

It was the first time you felt like a whole person, and you were never letting it go.


End file.
